One of the roman “must” is certainly the “Caffe Greco”, the oldest coffee shop in Italy after the mythical Florian in Venice. Founded in 1760 by some Greek that was called Nicola Greco (the Greek), this marvellous caffe is still in the same place, via dei Condotti, the street of the most luxury shops like Bulgari, Gucci or Tiffany, near the famous Spanish steps, in the hearth of Rome.
But the Caffe Greco is not just a very “chic” place to have a nice coffee and delicious pastries, it is a piece of history, a jump in the past. When you enter in a row of little drawing rooms with comfortable armchairs and the walls covered by 19th century paintings, you have a strange impression of being transported in the past. You can almost feel the presence of poets like Byron, or Shelley and Keats that lived in the neighbourhood (on the piazza di Spagna) and use to come often to the Caffe Greco. Before them Casanova was already a regular. And later, Goethe, Chateaubriand, Stendhal, Wagner, Ingres, Corot, Henry James…The Caffe Greco was a part of the “grand tour “.
Nicola Gogol who lived for years in Rome wrote on one of the marble table of the Caffe his masterpiece, “The dead souls”.
This artistic- intellectual tradition went on during the 20th century. Giorgio De Chirico, for example, had his table. And even now, amongst the tourist, it is always possible to find some painter sitting and working in one of the drawing rooms that look like the compartments of a an extraordinary train, even more beautiful than the Orient Express.
This artistic- intellectual tradition went on during the 20th century. Giorgio De Chirico, for example, had his table. And even now, amongst the tourist, it is always possible to find some painter sitting and working in one of the drawing rooms that look like the compartments of a an extraordinary train, even more beautiful than the Orient Express.
In these days, unfortunately, the future of the Caffe Greco is in danger because the owner wants more money from the “Antico Caffe Greco Srl company” that already pays a very big rent. Probably he had received some extraordinary offer from an important label. Fortunately, from the fifties, the Caffe Greco is officially considered as a “national monument” and should be protected by the ministry of Culture. Let’s hope! The lost of such a treasure is unimaginable.
